First, never forget that Trump’s expertise is marketing – more than anything else, he gets people to think the way he wants them to think.

Second, Trump is highly sensitive to any criticism – he does not tolerate having people say negative things about him.

Third, Trump never lets any challenge go unanswered and unpunished.
With that in mind, Trump is “interviewing” a lot of people who were really rude to him.

The key here is Romney — why would Trump want Romney to be considered for something as high profile as Secretary of State?

I have a thought. All of this “interviewing” – the candidate walk through the lobby of the tower with TV cameras rolling and pundits shouting questions – all of it is staged to accomplish a goal. And that goal has nothing to do with filling his staff/cabinet positions.

No – Trump is punking these people, and of course punking the press and his opponents (Democrats, et al) at the same time.
He whispers a rumour to the press that Romney is being considered for Secretary of State — and, predictably, the press jumps on it: BREAKING NEWS … The competitive press rush to repeat it, then the pundits start to talk about it.

Meantime, the pigeon (Romney) is suckered into going along, thinking that he’s actually being considered. There’s the “perp walk” shot, the visit to the throne room, the two-shot with smiles and handshakes.

Under pressure from the press and pundits, and in the wake of his audience with Trump, the pigeon issues statements completely contrary to what he said before – now he says that Trump is strong and brave and has a great vision and is moving the country forward.

Then Trump sends more spokespeople out to criticize Romney – this creates a story of “conflict” and “discord” in the transition team, which creates even more press.

So where does this all go? Well, the pigeon is being set up for a major punking – Trump will turn to Romney and say: “You’re Fired”.

Of course, Trump won’t actually say those words. Instead, he’ll name someone else to the position, one of his unqualified pals, over Romney. So Romney will have been passed over by someone far less qualified, but not before Romney will have been suckered into contradicting himself and extolling the virtues and wonderfulness of Trump – all on the record, all on tape.

And that is Trump’s way – manipulate your opponent, trick the press, stage stories that attract attention, then leave your opponent looking weak and stupid.

Given the quality of the press and the quality of Trump’s opponents, it is not much of a challenge to carry this off.